William mcoleery



(No Model.) 4 W. MQCLEERY.

BUTTON. No. 246,329. Patented Aug. 30,1881.

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WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

WILLIAM MOULEERY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY B. METOALF, OF PAWTUGKET, RHODE ISLAND.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,329, dated August 30, 1881.

Application filed June 14, 1881. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1', WILLIAM MoOLEERY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new 5 and useful Improvements in Buttons; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of the several features of my invention.

My said improvements relate to that particular variety of buttons which are used upon under-clothing and other wash-goods, and known as wash-buttons. Heretofore such 5 buttons have either embodied a true collet and a heavy pasteboard filling, or no filling, and a specially-formed collet beveled inwardly around its central opening. The paper filling on being wet expands and bursts the button,

and, on the other hand, the inwardlybeveled specially-formed collet admits of the retirement of the cloth back, and frequently necessitates picking it outward, as by a needle, before it can be sewed to a garment, so that the advantage due to the non-use of the paper filling is considerably offset by the inevitable disadvantage due to the increased time requisite for sewing the buttons to garments, and also further offset by the additional disadvan- 0 tage that such open-collet buttons are not water-tight, and therefore garments on which they are used, when taken from the wash, are liable to be stained adjacent to the buttons by the water or suds discharged therefrom.

The objects of my invention are to provide against the bursting of the filled buttons, heretofore incident to washing, and also to provide against the discharge of liquid, heretofore incident to the open-collet hollow button, and

at the same time to provide for even greater convenience in sewing than is the case with the paper-filled buttons.

My novel wash-button, in its best form, embodies rigid parts composed of non-corrosive 5 metal, such as high brass, zinc, and block-tin, or compounds thereof; or corrosive metals may be used, if plated with non-corrosive metal, to obviate the staining of goods when washed, as would be the case with iron, which would rust, or any similar metal unprotected by plating. It also embodies a cloth front and a cloth back, and the parts are so constructed and united as to form a practically water-tight button, so that if filled by a paper or pasteboard disk the latter will not be wet and thereby 5 cause the button to burst, and, if no filling be employed, so that no suds can enter the interior of the button, and thereafter be discharged and stain the garment to which it is applied.

I am the first, so far as my knowledge extends, to provide for apractically water-tight capacity in this class of buttons; and I attain this end by employing an eyeless collet instead of an open-eye collet, as always heretofore used in this class of buttons. For attaining certain additional ends relating to convenience in sewing the buttons to garments, I provide said eyeless collet on its face with a central convex projection. Broadly considered, a colletofthis form has heretofore been used in the manufac 7o ture of dress-buttons covered with fabrics, such as silk, florentine, and similar materials, as set forth and described in English Letters Patent No. 1,639, A. D. 1859. In said Letters Patent, however, it is stated that said convex projection may be pierced for the transverse passage of the needle and thread, or un pierced, in which latter case the button would be secured, as with my button, by stitches through the cloth-back cover; but said silk or fioren 8o tine buttons are not suited for wash-goods, and the metal parts therein are therefore not selected with reference to their non-corrosive qualities, nor was a practically water-tight capacity involved as a part of the invention described in said English Letters Patent.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively enlarged views of the rear, side, and diametrical section of a button embodying my invention in its best form. Figs. 0 4 and 5 are respectively rear and sectional views of the blind collet detached from the button.

The outside front and the back of my button are composed of textile fabric, such as wool, 5 cotton, or linen, suitable for use on wash-buttons, as distinguished from silk or florentine, or other fancy fabrics employed in the manufacture of dress-buttons.

The button-shell a and collet b are composed Ioo of zinc or other non-corrosive metal which will not so rust as to stain garments after they have been washed or wet. The collet b has no eye, but is provided with the central convex projection, b, the annular edge of which serves as a guide for the point of the needle in sewing the button to a garment. A collet of this construction is not broadly new, as before herein indicated; but, so far as my knowledge extends, I am the first to employ in a wash-button an eyeless collet of any form, and the first to employ in this particular form collets composed of metal which is non-corrosive, and thereby made specially suitable for wash-buttons, and at the same time I prevent the entrance of water or suds to the interior of the buttons during the operation of washing, thus preventing the bursting of the paper-filled buttons, or the discharge of suds from the unfilled buttons, necessarily resulting when constructed as heretofore. The annular edges of the cloth back and front being interposed between the edge of the collet and the interior of the flange of the shell, and being tightly clamped by the compressing action of the dies in which the parts of such buttons are united, renders the joint beween collet and front practically water-tight, and the collet having no eye, liquids are practically excluded from the interior of the button during the operation of washing.

The use of the paper filling has always heretofore been deemed very desirable, mainly because with the usual open-eye collet the central portion of the paper during the compressing action of the dies is forced outward through the open eye, and serves to force outward the central portion of the cloth back, thereby rendering it convenient for the reception of the needle in sewing. This projection of the cloth is attained by the use of the collet having the convex central projection. The bursting of the button, due to wetting the paperfilling, has, however, as before herein stated, heretofore been so objectionable as to prompt the use of an open-eye collet inwardly flanged, and with such buttons the central portion of the cloth back falls inward, or cups within the eye of the collet, and must be picked out in some way (usually with a needle) before sewing.

It will be seen that wash-buttons as constructed by me, whether filled with paper or empty, properly present their cloth backs for the ready reception of the needle; but the same would be true of the silk or florentine buttons described in the English Letters Patent before herein referred to. The paper filling also serves to render the button more firm and solid, and I therefore generally prefer to employ it, although the water-tight hollow wash-button as constructed by me is sometimes preferred.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new- 1. A practically water-tight wash-button embodyin g a cloth front, a cloth'back, a closed or eyeless collet and a front shell, both of which are composed of non-corrosive metal, substantially as described, for the purposes specified. 2. The wash-button having a cloth front, a cloth back, a front shell composed of non-cor rosive metal and an eyeless collet composed of non-corrosive metal, provided with a central convex projection, these parts being united to render the button practically water-tight, substantially as described.

' WILLIAM MGGLEERY. \Vitnesses:

EDGAR MoKrNLEY, WM. L. TAYLOR. 

